A Twisted Tangle
by Luminous-Dust
Summary: Rapunzel was not the lively and kind princess everybody knew. A dark, sinful twist to Disney's Tangled fit for Hallow'een's literary enjoyment.
1. Prologue: Killing Incantation

_Years of imprisonment had laced intricate webs of darkness into Rapunzel's once innocent heart and mind. They had come to her just like that, the ugly and spiteful words, like an uninvited friend...like an eclipse; intimidating but impossible to ignore._

Prologue: Killing Incantation

 ** _Flower gleam and glow_**

 ** _Let your power shine_**

 ** _Freeze the ticking clock_**

 ** _May everything be mine_**

 ** _Steal what has been stored_**

 ** _Come Death and thy shall dine_**

 ** _When stars drown and grow cold_**

 ** _May everything be mine_**

 ** _Everything is mine_**

Silence.

Where once had been a steady, vigorous rhythm of a healthy heart beating, there was now nothing. The room behind the ribcage was empty, bereft of any sound of life and of life itself.

Rapunzel consciously exhales her breath as the last flicker of malicious violet sheen languidly seeped out of the soft golden tendrils which were her hair. Innocently pinkish little fingers quietly worked to unwound the magical strands from a man's neck, a man whose lips had only begun to turn colorless—just like the rest of his rigid body.

He was dead. That much was obvious.

The man was the eleventh unfortunate soul who had ventured through the seemingly harmless greens of woods and the fluffy whites of clouds, into Rapunzel's isolated tower where she had lured the other ten doomed wanderers before him. Some of them had been princes from faraway lands and some other had been valiant knights with jewel encrusted swords or spears. There had also been peasants and even thieves, and all had faced the same fate of never being seen once more.

Rapunzel had killed them all.

For many years Mother Gothel had brushed her lustrous, blonde hair, while chanting the mysterious healing incantation only she and Rapunzel knew. It had given the greedy woman the eternal youth she had always been so obsessed with, at least until the day Rapunzel had twisted the words of the melodious passages into into something dark and evil. Mother Gothel had died in her own chair, with the comb and a lock of Rapunzel's hair still in her wrinkled, bloodless fingers.

The sorceress's mouth had been half-open in her death, her skin had turned a rotten purple and crumpled like a week's old apple. Rapunzel had been afraid, that time. But then her gaze had fallen on the mirror by her side, and she had seen what the distorted, horrendous incantation had also done to her. Never before she had felt prettier, with her flesh plump and rosy, her face and eyes glowing and her lips irresistibly red and ripe.

Her hair—her majestic golden crown—had been more radiant than ever, looking as alive as the most brilliant fire.

For a moment Rapunzel had been sure that the world would have never seen any single person even more beautiful than herself. But then that glow had slowly begun to fade. And Rapunzel had quickly realized that, like the forever young appearance Mother Gothel had earned from singing the healing incantation, the bewitching good look she had gotten from the 'killing incantation' was not everlasting.

So that had left her with one option she could not have possibly resisted;

If Rapunzel wanted to remain as the most beautiful woman on the face of earth, she needed to kill yet another person.

And so she had.

Again and again and again because in truth, as much as she had loathed Mother Gothel for her avarice Rapunzel, as an ordinary human being, could not save herself from its dangerous yet mesmerizing snares.

* * *

 **(Author's Note: All the characters belong to Disney, I do not own anything but this idea to turn our beloved Rapunzel into one sexy, maleficent man-eater~**

 **Flynn is coming soon!)**


	2. Chapter 1: The Former Thief

Chapter 1: The Former Thief

Rapunzel could have easily escaped her sky high prison after Mother Gothel's death.

However, there was no other place that would provide her with protection like the tower did. Rooted at the remote ground deep inside the woods, the tower was the perfect place for catching some unfortunate travelers. She only needed to sing with her beautiful voice and a curious man would always appear below her window, beseeching her let down her hair and get him inside.

The tower was also strategically placed near a rushing river, in which Rapunzel would drown the bodies of the men whose lives she had taken. So she stayed, unaware of the rumours and terror that had begun to spread among the townspeople.

Rapunzel could not look more wonderful than she did now, only a few short hours following the doom of her eleventh victim.

It was early in the evening and reddish shafts of the dying sunlight would pierce into Rapunzel's tower through the windows, making even the most dusty crockery glitter. In this light Rapunzel looked ethereally beautiful. She was sprawled on the floor with her golden hair clustered around her slender form, a dainty porcelain hand mirror in her grip as she was staring at the reflection of her own twinkling green eyes.

It was a peaceful moment for the blonde femme, until she heard someone climbing through one of the windows.

Having never accepted an uninvited guest into her lair, the disruption made her heart race. She slipped away to blend with the shadows, from where she could be watching from a safe distance.

A man leaped over the wooden frame and stood in the center of her bedroom. His firm and manly built was dressed in a simple hunting attire, a brown leather satchel crossing his moss green tunic over his broad chest. A pair of tough-looking boots where he kept a dagger protected his strong long legs, his earth-coloured locks tousled over an expressive brow and intelligent eyes.

The very same eyes were now fixed on the high vault of the tower's ceiling. The stranger looked both lost and impressed, and it took him a moment until he made a sound.

"Hello? Anybody in here?"

His voice echoed in the seemingly empty space. Rapunzel held her breath; she was not in need of a victim at the moment. Whatever should she do to this brown eyed lad?

Before she could have stopped herself, Rapunzel felt her weight shift forward when her feet brought her out of the shadows and into the light. She was already halfway out of the dark corner she had been hiding herself in just as the man turned toward her. The man jumped a few inches backward, shouting in his surprise, "Holy Mother of— Oh! Um, are you the owner of this…well, charming place? I did not mean to break in, but I need a place to hide. I swear I mean you no ha—"

Rapunzel was finally out of the shadows. She could not help a tiny smile when she witnessed how the man's expression entirely changed at the mere sight of her.

"I—wow—hello, there!" The stranger whistled. "The name's Flynn Rider. May I have the honour of knowing what yours is?"

A giggle escaped Rapunzel's sinfully juicy lips. It was quite startling that this unexpected visitor was able to play coquetry with her. Other would have just stared longingly at her person with a slightly open mouth, completely under her bewitching charm. This man, Flynn Rider, was indeed something else. Maybe she could have a little bit more fun with this special one.

Her voice rang clear and pleasant in the warm air as she answered, "Rapunzel," in a tone that was as shy as it was tempted the perfectly deadly combination when it came to luring men into her death trap. "What are you doing here? Why did you get into my tower?" Rapunzel twisted her fingers, pretending to feel unease in the other's presence.

Once more Flynn whistled, bronze knuckles running through his already mussed dark mop of hair as if he was aware that the action made him look all the more attractive. Maybe he was.

"Please! Do not be troubled, my dear Rapunzel. Like I said, I mean you no harm." He glanced over his shoulder and to the window behind his back, then inched away as if afraid of being seen. "I was being chased by someone. An evil, evil guy who wants to take away something that I have from me. He almost got me, but then I stumbled into this hidden tunnel that led me here. No one will find me here, so….

Do you think you would mind it if I stay here for a while, just until the bad guy disappears?"

No one would find him. Exactly. Rapunzel fought back a triumphant grin. Flynn could stay to entertain her, and the longer he stayed the stronger his attachment to her would grow. He would be there just when she needed him, ready to be used. It was the perfect scenario.

"I don't mind…" Rapunzel's voice was a soft, hesitant murmur. She gently tucked a cluster of hair behind her left ear and looked up at Flynn, her innocently round eyes glued to the man as if he was an object of wonder. "It is actually nice to have someone to talk to."

Flynn's smile broke and Rapunzel could see, from the intoxicated glitter in the man's eyes, that he had begun to fall for her. It was almost too easy.

"For someone like you, Rapunzel, I will talk until my mouth falls off my face. I will listen to you, too. So why don't you tell me more about yourself?"

The spacious four-poster old bed in the corner of the room creaked softly when Rapunzel sat on it, patting the empty spot next to her. Flynn immediately understood the invitation and sauntered over to her. The bare skin of their arm brushed, and both looked up at the same time to stare at each other. Rapunzel was purposefully biting her lower lip, while Flynn swallowed.

It was Rapunzel who broke the silence first.

"Why don't I just _show_ you, Flynn Rider?" she whispered, and leaned so much closer that their nose nearly touched. "That way, you will never forget."

The early summer wind that blew through the window carried the sweet aroma of the flowers growing across the woods' floor, but the two persons on the other side of the tower's walls failed to notice.

. . . . . To them, the scent of the other person's skin was far more fragrant and appealing.


	3. Chapter 2: The Lost Princess

**(Author's Note: I know Halloween is long over and this story was meant to be all about celebrating the spookiness of Halloween, but I hope you can still enjoy it despite the delay! I suck at updating quickly, I know. So thank you for sticking with me!** **ヾ** **(￣◇￣** **)ノ** **)**

Chapter 2 : The Lost Princess

Rapunzel had been with men before. But none of them had been like Flynn Rider.

Under the charm of her unearthly beauty, all those men who had fallen victim to Rapunzel's spell had wanted nothing but to _consume_ her. To those lust blinded eyes, the golden haired maiden was nothing more than an object of indulgence. They had devoured every inch of her to the point of exhausting themselves, which had allowed Rapunzel to savored their soul in their intoxicated sleep in return.

But Flynn was different.

For the first time ever, Rapunzel felt as if she was the one who was under a spell when their skin touched. She turned boneless when the brusque brunet claimed her lips with such tenderness, and it did not take long for her to be gasping underneath his reassuring weight—begging for more. Fynn's intrusion was caringly gentle despite the plenty provocations she was providing him with her promiscuous vocalizations and clawing to his muscular back, the unhurried insertion only serving to fuel the fire of Rapunzel's desires. Flynn refused to submit to the enchantress' urges, however, exhibiting the temperance of a wise old perfume maker who extracted the scent of the roses delicately instead of just by crushing their petals heartlessly.

And when they finally grew from the torturously languid dance into something more frantic, feverish with primal needs and instincts, Flynn would slowed his pace yet again, while pressing one meltingly warm kiss after another on Rapunzel's sweat slicked throat, shoulder, and between her supple breasts. None, not even her obsession of eternal beauty, mattered to Rapunzel that time; she cared only about the pair of strong tanned arms lovingly cradling her body and the hot lips upon her skin, about how she wanted Flynn Rider to remain inside of her forever. She was beyond the state of comprehending anything but carnal pleasures when her man finally neared his peak, her blonde head tossed back and her rolled-back eyes only half open.

Almost animalistic, masculine grunts coalesced with feminine cries and moans as their climax impacted them. The lewd creaking of the bed stopped, replaced by harsh panting breaths from both the imprisoned damsel and the handsome traveler.

Panic gripped Rapunzel's hazy mind as she began to slip into unconsciousness after her high faded; if she planned to eliminate Flynn Rider, this would be the perfect time as he was content and tired and unsuspecting.

In the end she reached out to him, but instead of tangling her deadly golden hair around him with the intention to kill she curled within the comfort of his arms and listened to his steady heartbeat. Rapunzel allowed the music of Flynn's life lulled her to sleep, and for once she did not dream of the dying face of Mother Gothel which had been haunting her since the first night after she had killed her.

The first thing that Rapunzel saw when she opened her eyes was Flynn's profile outlined by the first light of dawn.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed, one of his legs stretching to the floor. His head was bent and his somber eyes were fixated on an object in his hands, something that Rapunzel could not glimpse from where she was rested atop her pillows. All this solemnity. . . Flynn did not look like himself without his bravado and cheeky smile. It was bizarre, to be thinking these thoughts as if she had known the attractive stranger all her life. But she was, and she did not even have the time to regret the lost opportunity to renew her beauty.

"Flynn?"

The man jumped at Rapunzel's voice and the clinking sound of something light and metallic hitting the floor followed. Flynn hurriedly leaped to retrieve whatever it was he had dropped, before turning to meet Rapunzel's questioning gaze. Anxious chestnut irises meeting lushly grassy ones, Flynn exhaled a long breath before answering.

"Good morning, Blondie. I'm sorry, did I wake you ?" He sat back on the bed, and Rapunzel could finally see that Flynn was holding something shiny and sparkling—a piece jewelry? Rapunzel could not be certain. She had not seen anything like it. It was a fragile-looking circular band made out of gold, decorated with massive diamonds reflecting brilliant patterns upon Flynn's skin. "I was only thinking about….something. I have something that I have to tell you."

Rapunzel slowly sat up, without bothering to cover her nakedness. Her companion visibly swallowed, but it seemed like he was determined to carry his mission through. Rapunzel merely monitored him with her deceptively huge and docile green eyes.

"You see this tiara?" he began after clearing his throat. "This tiara is not mine. I stole it. That was why I needed a place to hide yesterday; people were hunting me because I stole their precious treasure.

"I am a thief. I've been one for a long time and the royal guards will give you a huge sum of money if you bring me to them, dead or alive…. Maybe they'll give bigger reward if I'm dead, I don't know. They don't like me that much."

And without Rapunzel having to ask him Flynn began to spill everything: his history as an orphan who had admired this book character Flynnigan Rider, his aspiration to have a life of a swashbuckling hero, and how he had tarnished the name he had adopted as his own by being what he was in his quest for adventure and glory.

He told her that his true given name was Eugene Fitzherbert—and how _good_ it felt to finally have someone who knew of his real existence after all his time of crime and pretentious debauchery.

A look of dismay had held Flynn's expression through the entire retelling of his back story, yet the handsome lad ended it with a sheepish smile.

"It's too early for this kind of boring tale, huh?" he inquired, translating Rapunzel's silence as confusion. "My bad. I only thought that after what we had last night…." He lightly rolled his shoulders in a shrug.

"I just wanted you to know."

Rapunzel had never spoken to any of the male sacrifices she had lured into her death trap. They had exchanged a few words, but none of them had meant anything. She tilted her pretty head at a slight angle, curious. Was it possible to see this man before her as something more than a meal for her greed? She looked down at the brilliant rivers her hair formed across the white sheets; she, too, had a tale hidden from anyone's knowledge. Rapunzel wondered what kind of face the daredevil Flynn Rider, no, Eugene Fitzherbert would make if he had known that the person he had just confessed his sins to was an even greater sinner than he was.

Before the Flynn in the green eyed-maiden's imagination could have made any facial expression displaying shock and betrayal, the real one had moved to reach for her idle hand, clasping her tiny fingers in his roughened ones.

Cautiousness laced his gestures, as if he was being careful with what he was about to say. "As important as telling you who I really am feels to me, Rapunzel, I have one other thing that I think must mention to you."

Seriousness deepened his voice and his concerned gaze fell to the piece of gold in the possession of his other hand before flicking back to Rapunzel. "I stole this tiara from the King's palace, and I saw something there."

When the question of what he had seen could possibly be came, Flynn's eyes widened by a fraction and he whispered, "I saw a painting. Of the royal family. Of the king and queen of this land and the crown princess, the daughter who was taken away from the King and the Queen nineteen years ago."

Rapunzel could not see where Flynn was heading with this story. But she could feel the undeniable rush in her blood. The sort of anticipation she only experienced when 'hunting'.

Outside Rapunzel's tower the sky had turned a brighter blue, perky wisps of cottony clouds rolling freely across the horizon. The coverlet discreetly rustled as Flynn disengaged his hand from Rapunzel's and rose to gaze out of the nearest window, the ends of his messy brown locks tinged with gold from the play of light.

Eugene Fitzherbert hesitated, scrubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner, before whirling to face Rapunzel with a subtly knitted brow.

"I think it is you, Blondie."

Rapunzel remained still when the man traced his steps back to the bed and placed the tiara on her head. The royal crown glowed like a halo of light and so did Flynn's face.

"I think you might be the lost princess."


	4. Chapter 3: The Secret Plan

**(Author's Note: Finally, an update! LOL. I apologize for the shortness and the snail pace, and I hugely thank you for the reviews and favs! Hopefully I can continue to entertain you guys until I finish this story. Meanwhile, enjoy a little peek of what our Rapunzel in the story did not know yet~)**

Chapter 3 : The Secret Plan

 _The day before._

"Fraud, impersonation, identity theft, _countless_ cases of purse-snatching and pocket-picking and lastly, a major crime punishable by _death….._

"…..An attempt at removing the royal crown from its rightful place in the palace…..

"…..Subject 1022, also known as Flynn Rider, is to be sent to the gallows first thing in the morning tomorrow as an atonement for his long history of misconducts."

The astute, red-clad royal guard looked up from his scroll in order to toss Flynn a condescending coy smile, while Flynn narrowed his eyes spitefully at the parchment in the other man's hands through the iron bars of his confines.

" _That_ is what awaits you if you refuse to cooperate, Rider." The guard smirked in triumph. "You have less than zero chance of surviving. If you assist us, however, there is a possibility that you can succeed. If you manage to complete the task given to you, we will free you from any kind of punishment for your crime. You will be a free man once more."

A resentful mumbling resonated within the cramped cell where Flynn, who had once been the greatest, most elusive thief in the entire kingdom, was currently being held prisoner.

The guard kept away his scroll and inquired calmly, "what was that again, Rider? It is so unlike you to be this soft-spoken, I'm afraid I cannot hear—"

"I SAID; SO MY CHOICE IS BETWEEN DEATH SENTENCE AND SUICIDE MISSION? THANKS A LOT. YOU ARE A TRUE INSPIRATION, YOU TWO-FACED, SNEAKY CAPTAIN. I HOPE YOU DIE AND ROT IN HELL."

Faced with Flynn's heated frustrations, said captain merely laughed.

"Well. What do you expect for a criminal like you, Flynn Rider?" He twirled the moustache under his cold, calculating eyes. "This mysterious killing of numerous men in this kingdom must stop. We suspect the abandoned tower in the heart of the Eastern woods is the hiding place of this monster, but we cannot approach it recklessly.

"So why not use someone like you, whose fate is to die sooner than later anyway, as a spy?"

Boiling hatred was surging through Flynn's veins, like a deadly toxic, but at the same time he knew that he was already lost. A tiny part in him even dared to hope that, maybe, if he managed to get out of the monster's lair alive he would truly be the hero he had always dreamed of becoming.

"Alright," the cornered thief finally spat. He moved closer toward the iron bars of his prison, his intense brown gaze boring into that of the royal guard's commander's triumphant one. "You better hold on to your words, Captain."

The captain grinned, baring ivory row of teeth, and the victory in his eyes morphed into something akin to bloodlust.

"Bring that cursed monster into the castle, let my men and I make it pay for what it has done, and you can go home as a hero, Flynn Rider. Hell, you can even take that crown with you, as a good luck charm from myself. You can return it upon your freedom.

"A guard of the King and Queen never goes back on his words. I swear my life upon it."

The sun was high up above the townspeople's heads, a luminous great eye in the sky, when the man who was supposed to be on death row postponed his rendezvous with The Reaper and set off for his mission. Oddly, everything Flynn came across that day in his way to the woods seemed more charming than usual. The folks in the city he had been born and grown up in. The humble abodes with thatched roofs. The buzz in the farmer's market. He almost wished he could have turned back time, to begin again as Eugene Fitzherbert and leave a mark in history as something _but_ a criminal.

What kind of a terrifying ghost would he encounter in that alienated tower in far in the East, Flynn wondered. How would the merciless end him? Just how it had ended many other men, with saber teeth and claws, maybe? Or maybe a death stare? The latter sounded more favorable, as it would be less bloody and certainly less painful.

Flynn's imagination ran like a river streaming down to the sea; unstoppable and unnoticed, being only a background noise and sight in the man's journey toward whatever doom awaited him. The monster in his mind kept changing forms, to suit his guesses and predictions of what it might be capable of doing. They were always horrific, gruesome creatures with ruthless eyes, the kinds one would see monsters described in books of lore and ancient tales.

What the former thief would have never foreseen, however, was how far the truth could deviate from his expectation.

He was beyond shocked; upon finding that the monster he was supposed to bring back to the guards to be eliminated was a goddess with golden silk as hair and curious emerald stare as bright and precious as the rarest gemstone.

She was the most beautiful woman Flynn Rider and Eugene Fitzherbert had ever laid their eyes on.


	5. (Author's Note)

(Author's note: allow me to just let you know that I have every intention to continue this story. However things have been super crazy at work, so I am currently unable to do so. Thank you so so much for the kind reviews, I hugely appreciate them, and I am terribly sorry that I am going to make you who still wish to read this story wait even longer :'( Hopefully I'll be able to update soon and until then, take care! XOXO)


	6. Chapter 4: The Ugly Truth

**(Author's Note: An update! But I've gotten so rusty and I don't know how I feel about this chapter. Hopefully it still entertain you, though. I'll continue trying my best until I finish the story! 0:] )**

Chapter 4 : The Ugly Truth

Living within the isolation of the tower, Rapunzel often thought it similar as living underwater. And for the first time ever, she felt as if she finally managed to poke her head above the surface and breathe in the outside world's air.

"The lost princess… I am?"

Flynn said nothing but he bobbed his head in a tentative nod, his cinnamon eyes cautiously absorbing her reactions. Rapunzel's attention then slipped to her surroundings; suddenly everything looked twice as dusty, eaten away by years and disuse - undesirable. She had never imagined calling any other place but this lackluster prison her home, but she could now so clearly see herself waltzing around a grand ballroom inside a palace polished in gold and embedded by jewels. She could see the adoration in the eyes of her people, endlessly praising the gods for their beloved princess' incomparable beauty. Which would fade, if she stopped her killings. But a chance at human love overshone all else. Mother Gothel had never given Rapunzel love and now she might have the opportunity to have it, instead of some fleeting admiration from the men who lusted over her.

For a moment Flynn had lost hope. His story was too far-fetched. He had blurted it out without much thought. And yet, he also felt relief that the emerald-eyed maiden was not taking his bait.

But then Rapunzel snatched the man's hand and squeezed it within her own, and pleaded. "Then you must take me, Flynn Rider, to this castle where I rightfully belong." She tossed her pretty face fretfully, desperate. "Let me out of the darkness of this place before it turned me into a monster. If I could have another life, then I must have it. Please."

Dread filled the man as he witnessed his target so willingly threw itself into his crafty plan. "M-monster?" Words clumsily stumbled out the womanizer's lips, as if he had suddenly morphed into a child during a thunderstorm. "What do you mean? What darkness have you been living in, Rapunzel? Tell me."

And tales came pouring out of the blonde girl like a flooded stream, unfiltered and unstoppable. Mother Gothel. Magic hair. Frustrations. Mother Gothel's death. Fear. Guilt. Curiosity. Addiction. More death. Flynn sat, stunned into speechlessness, as Rapunzel acknowledged her sin of murdering innocent people for the sake of becoming the fairest woman in existence. As Rapunzel, her impeccable rosy lips trembling a little, admitted that she had intended to make another victim out of him.

"But I couldn't bring myself to do that," those pink flesh told Flynn in a plaintive voice, captivating him, molding what could have been rage and disgust into forgiveness. "You aren't like everybody else, Eugene Fitzherbert. You know how it feels to lead a life you wish only to abandon. How it feels to ache to be a better person, with better purpose." Rapunzel crawled onto the thief's lap and curled around him like poison ivy. " _Save me_ , Eugene."

 _She_ is _a monster,_ Flynn thought in a mind-shattering realization. _But it was because she is far too alone. Just like me._

 _I need to save her._

Squeezing the naked body in his arms with cautious protectiveness, Eugene Fitzherbert dove into the sea of golden hair and whispered brokenly into Rapunzel's ear. _This is the only way…_

"I will take you to the castle," the man solemnly swore, "but the world out there… It can be vicious. You have to give me your word that you will believe me no matter what." Those terrified green eyes widened at his warning and Flynn gulped rather loudly. His hands were shaking, but the girl's attention was solely focused on the sweet promises his mouth was providing her. "And since I'm a wanted criminal there will be some…complications. We will be separated for a short while and you might get scared, but we _will_ meet again.

"Do you think you can trust me?"

Rapunzel sought the handsome traveler's face for signs of betrayal—Mother Gothel had betrayed her and she had received her punishment—and nodded when she found none. The pair kissed and embraced, and slid off the bed sheets to don their clothes. Once geared up, Flynn retraced his steps to the blonde-in-pink and handed her the satchel that contained the stolen tiara. "I don't want this anymore,' said Flynn, folding Rapunzel's fingers over the leather material. "You can do whatever you want with it." The supposedly 'lost princess' silently claimed it, flung the bag diagonally over her shoulder, and showed her companion the hidden stairway she had found long ago that would lead them out of the tower. Rapunzel quietly whispered to him that it was the route she took if she ever needed to briefly leave the tower, confiding in him that she had never had the courage to stay away from 'home' too long. "Like you have said, Mother Gothel also told me how terrible the outside world was." Her gaze dipped to her bare toes as she murmured in a fragile voice. "I have turned into a monster and yet I still get scared when I think of it."

The maiden stopped by their exit, a set of weathered barn doors that seemed to merge effortlessly with the stone wall, and stared at it with a blanched expression. It wasn't the first time for Rapunzel to pass through the threshold; she went out for food and even to dump the bodies of the men she had 'absorbed'. But going out with the prospect of never coming back phased her.

Flynn inserted his callused fingers into the slim gaps between her slender digits.

"Let's go, Blondie. Let's go and start a new life."

Beyond the timbers that set them apart from whatever awaited on the other side of the walls of the tower was a curtain of foliage that made the entrance hidden from any wanderer's vicinity. With his heart hammering behind his ribcage, the thief led the murderer out of her lair into the open. They emerged through the waterfall of plants and squinted from the oppressive morning sunlight after the darkness they had just gone through in the basement stairway.

Somewhere within the woods, a deer barked.

Flynn's shoulders grew tense and he turned to glimpse a cluster of nightshade berry bushes in the distance where he knew the captain's men were watching. He sucked in a breath before replicating the animal's noise, feeling sick to his stomach as he did so. _I have it,_ the secret signal signified, _I have the monster with me._

"Eugene? Why are you doing that?" Rapunzel whipped her fair head toward the male beside her, knitting her beautiful brow in concern. Flynn looked utterly depressed. "Why are you making that noises?"

But before she could grab the man and demand him for answer Rapunzel felt a sharp sting on her nape just behind her ear, and she whirled around in shock and confusion. She opened her mouth to ask her guide about whatever that was happening, but more poisoned needles shot through the air and impaled her flawless skin at the base of her throat, her arm, above her left eyebrow, and her ankle. The birds flew from the nearby trees in panic and scattered all across the vast blue sky as Rapunzel shrieked at the top of her lungs.

Her body felt as if it had turned into stone and her vision swam. She had been poisoned. ….She had been _tricked._

Rapunzel felt herself drop to the ground, but Flynn caught her before she could collide with hard earth. Even with the dark fog closing in around her, she could still see that there was no surprise in the criminal's face. Although it was also devoid of triumph. Cold rage surged through her veins at the same time her heart broke into pieces.

"Euge—?"

And everything was pitched black and Rapuzel was falling, deeper and deeper into a hole without a bottom.


End file.
